Sony WH-1000XM2 (2017) vs Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8 (2018)

The Sony WH-1000XM2 (2017) is a great Closed-Back Headphone for its $279 asking price.

The Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018), however, is merely passable at its $258 price point. If you're considering buying a Closed-Back Headphone in the $370 range, you might want to check out some of its competitors.

The Sony WH-1000XM2 (2017) was loved by reviewers at SoundGuys, a highly trusted source that performs reliable in-depth testing. It did great in its "Best audio gifts for grads 2018" roundup where it was named its "Best Active Noise-Cancelling", which, in itself, makes it a product worth considering.

As for the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018), it wasn't able to earn a top spot in any roundups from trusted sources that conduct their own hands-on testing. Nevertheless, it managed to impress reviewers at Techradar, PCmag, and Wirecutter (NYTimes) enough to make it onto their respective shortlists.

To get a better idea of how they fare when compared directly to each other, we analyzed review scores of sources that tested both. Techradar, for example, preferred the Sony WH-1000XM2 (2017), while PCmag rated both of them the same.

We also took a look at which sources had the best things to say about them. We learned that the Sony WH-1000XM2 (2017) got reviewed the highest by Digitaltrends - it gave it a rating of 10, while the Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) most impressed reviewers at Lifewire, which gave it a score of 9.4.

Lastly, we averaged out all of the reviews scores that we could find on these two products and compared them to other Closed-Back Headphones on the market. We learned that both of them performed far better than most of their competitors - the overall review average earned by Closed-Back Headphones being 7.4 out of 10, whereas the Sony WH-1000XM2 (2017) and Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) managed averages of 9.2 and 8.5 points, respectively.

Due to the difference in their prices, however, it's important to keep in mind that a direct Sony WH-1000XM2 (2017) vs. Bang & Olufsen Beoplay H8i (2018) comparison might not be entirely fair - some sources don't take value for money into account when assigning their scores and therefore have a tendency to rate more premium products better.